About a week ago, I went to a movie rental around my blocks to rent some movies. I needed them because I planned to have a small party in my home with my friends from my office. We would eat some pizzas, drink lemonades, and watch our favorite movies. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky. I could not find two from five movies I wanted to rent. So then I called one of my movie-freak friends, Sam, asking what I should do.

He truly gave me a good solution. He suggested me to find the Netflix on the internet. It’s kind of cyber movie rental but much better. By using Netflix’s service, I don’t have to make a trip to the movie rental anymore. Instead, now the movies come to me, and the best part is they provide a vast collection of movies. Thanks to their service, I could save my party.

Once I choose the movie I want to watch, all I have to do is wait for the movie to arrive in my mailbox. By the way, when I compared its cost with the movie rental, I found that it’s cheaper. I wonder how much money I should pay if I were to rent as many movies at the movie rental as I have at Netflix. Probably, I would go broke.

Moreover, Netflix permits you to enjoy a free Netflix period of 14 days. If you are not really sure you want to subscribe, you can take advantage on this Netflix free trial. After that you can decide whether you join or cancel your subscription.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is based on the first of a series of books by author Rick Riordan and is aimed at young teens, particularly boys. The series proposes that the Greek Gods are alive and kicking in the modern world, more specifically operating out of a new Mount Olympus in Manhattan.

Well now, here’s the story. A New York teenager Percy (Logan Lerman) who is living with single mom Sally (Catherine Keener) and her no-good boyfriend Gabe Ugliano (Joe Pentoliano). What Percy has never known is that his real father is Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), the Greek god of the oceans. So Percy is a demi-god, son of a god and a human.

Being the son of the lord of the ocean and of earthquakes has some great advantages, like the ability to manipulate and control water. Percy meets with fellow demigods, centaurs, satyrs and other very-much-alive creatures of Ancient Greek Myth and even manages to rub shoulders with a few gods and a rather intimidating prophecy.

The characters are much as you would expect and the film-makers have done a good job casting the trio of young leads, though fans have already expressed their opinions about changes in the ages of the characters and the look of both Grover and Annabelle.

Overall the film is well paced and provides two hours of solid entertainment. There is enough here to warrant a second look and interested viewers are encouraged to refresh their memory about Greek Mythology in order to enhance their viewing experience. Better yet, read on into the series of Percy Jackson books to discover how this prophecy plays out.

Valentine’s Day works in the tradition of last year’s February romantic success story, and Love Actually, a British dramatic rom-com that jump-started the technique of applying multiple love stories in a film. That way, if one story doesn’t work, you have multiple other chances to still enjoy the movie.

“Valentine’s Day” is set in Los Angeles where love and heartbreaks are intertwined all within those 24 hours. Florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) proposes to his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba) and he is all excited about it. His best friend Julia (Jennifer Garner) is having an affair with Dr Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), while talent agent in training Josh Morris (Topher Grace) has just met the receptionist Liz (Anne Hathaway), who moonlights as a phone sex entertainer.

Meanwhile 10-year-old Edison (Bryce Robinson) who is one of Julia’s pupils, wants to send flowers to his Valentine; his grandparents Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) and Edgar (Hector Elizondo) also have a surprise after being married for so long. And up in the air, an off-duty soldier (Julia Roberts) travels from afar just to spend one day with someone she loves.

The movie is lovey-dubby to say the least but keeps track of each story arch very well and the twists that weave them all together are a lot better than you’d expect. The ensemble cast really shines in this light romantic movie, especially Ashton Kutcher, whose been absent from the limelight for a bit, makes a pleasant return as the florist who is as much of romantic as they come, and George Lopez is also great in his role of the family man with all the right views on love.

Special Forces Army Sergeant John Tyree (Channing Tatum) is home on a two-week leave from Germany. He meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) after he dives into the ocean to retrieve Savannah’s purse that had fallen off the pier. John is smitten by Savannah and falls in love at first sight. Savannah is a college student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is on spring break and is helping build a house for Habitat for Humanity.

Military service in this movie is strictly an opportunity to engage in passionate correspondence of the old-fashioned snail mail kind. Savannah and John exchange declarations of love and loyalty revealed to us in voice-overs. But just when John’s remaining year of service is over, the 9/11 attacks happen. Poor John! Duty calls. His squad members, after a weekend during which John goes all the way back from some top secret exotic country to Charleson, all decide to re-up for duty in Afghanistan, and he can’t desert them.

Over-all, the movie had its flaws and strengths, and had the power to be amazing but fell a little short because of the mediocre acting in some parts and lazy directing/producing. The people who put everything together in the end barely did their part in some ways. For some scenes, it seemed like they only asked the actors to run through it once and then said “okay, this is good let’s use it”, when clearly it needed a little more work. The script wasn’t great at parts, too. The beginning was slow-moving and a little awkward, but the movie got much better as it went on. And of course the idea/writing of the movie itself, being a Nicholas Sparks story, was beautiful. The music was also phenomenal. The cinematography was very good at segueing through love letters, focusing just enough on a key word or phrase in each letter. If you love The Notebook, then give Dear John a look.

Like so many of Terry Gilliam’s films The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is one that is going to need multiple viewings to truly form an opinion on.  The film is of marvelous spectacle yet unprofound simplicity but limitless. It’s along the lines of his magnificent visual storytelling as in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, leaving out the subtext like Brazil and Twelve Monkeys.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus tells the story of the immortal Dr Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his magical Imaginarium, a travelling show in which a volunteer from the audience gets to experience their greatest need in vivid forms and then has to choose between two paths.

The score is great. Nothing ground-breaking but the music disappears and becomes a part of the scene. A great touch is when whenever Mr Nick appears, the score changes to something jazzy or bluesy.

It is basically a story about a father protecting his daughter. But what makes it unique is the fact that is it layered with metaphors and references about religion, the battle between good and evil, choices people made, impression people put up and morality behind each of our action.

But this is NOT a film for everyone. The ending is NOT a Hollywood style “happy ending” by any means, but one that reflects on the nature of life. Anyone expecting this film to be a bit of “holiday entertainment” will be sorely disappointed, as the plot is not as predictable and the clichés used in the film aren’t the sort you usually see.

Let’s get it straight right away: Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, is quite a riot and one of the most entertaining movies of the year.

Just fresh off capturing and witnessing the hanging of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), an occult serial killer, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) are stunned to hear rumors that he has resurrected back from the dead and resumed his killing spree. To complicate matters, Watson is planning to get married to pretty Mary Marstan (Kelly Reilly) and move out of good old 221b Baker Street to Holmes great despair. Holmes, hilariously resolved not to let that happen, attempts to sabotage his friend’s proposal while hunting down Lord Blackwood. Holmes perks up considerably though when his tempestuous old love interest, the fetching Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) pops back in town for some mysterious business.

It’s unfair to compare this version to any previous Sherlock Holmes film as they are all ‘re-imagined’ anyway.  Some would argue that Basil Rathbone is closest to the novelistic version of Holmes but even he misses the mark.  Playing him as upper-class, haughty even, with an obsession for tidiness defies some of Holmes’ character flaws.  Indeed, the books, through Watsons narrative, describe Holmes as slovenly and more than a passing interest in addictive drugs, all being legal and very much the rage in ‘them’ days.  He’s selfish, erudite and personal feelings are a minor obstruction in his quest for the logical facts.  Furthermore, he is not adverse to a good punch up or use of a weapon and again, throughout the range of novels, it emerges Holmes has trained as a boxer.  This is not the Guy Ritchie version, this is as written in the books from which all Sherlock Holmes’ films were supposedly based.

The film ends with Holmes and Watson about to set off to track down Professor Moriarty, which for anyone who enjoys this movie is excellent news, we now know what the sequel will be about… can’t wait.

Do you like Pocahontas? Do you enjoy painting with all the colors of the wind? Only in a crazy rendered 3d world created from the mind of James Cameron? Then perhaps Avatar is the movie for you!

There have been movies which have been controversial upon their release. The Catholic church practically waged war on “The DaVinci Code”, and the conservatives labeled Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11″ a bleeding-heart liberal doctrine. Avatar is one of them.

The tale of “Avatar”, based upon a humanoid and extraterrestrial race, provides a fruitful, relishing and striking array of fluorescent colours, story lines and character illustration that keeps the audience fixated upon the world of “Pandora”. After the death of his scientist brother, crippled marine Jake Sully agrees to control his avatar and research the Na’vi under the supervision of fellow Avatar, Grace. Although Grace is Jake’s boss, he is also under orders from military commander Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) to infiltrate the Na’vi and point out all of their weaknesses for a future military attack. While exploring the planet, Jake befriends Na’vi princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), who then takes him to meet her clan. It is decided that Neytiri will teach and train Jake in the way of her people. Eventually Jake becomes drawn in by the proud group of blue skinned warriors and begins to question whose side he should be on.

In the end though, critical jabs at the film and Cameron’s expense will do little to undermine the overwhelming technical achievement he’s created. AVATAR is sure to be a box office phenomenon and hugely influential in expanding the limits of effects driven genre films. Its amazing aesthetics make it one of the tastiest pieces of cinematic eye candy ever. So much so, that I could even let the sucky song (“I See You” by Leona Lewis) that plays over the end credits slide.